Journalism 100 Years Ago Versus Today - Page 2

This is the kind of good journalism everyone thinks we need more of right? Well, no. Just as some don’t like reporting that is too honest or too frank today — and this writer can talk on that from personal experience — such was the case back then too with Crane:

“Later, he made the mistake of describing too accurately the behavior of New York’s Seventy-first Regiment in the charge up San Juan Hill, which brought down the patriotic wrath of Hearst, who charged that Pulitzer was slandering the heroism of New York’s only sons. Crane came home soon afterward, broken in health; he had only two years to live.”

Being a white male

As a white male I would have had advantages over the women and minorities of the times, both in terms of pay and work conditions. While things today are closer to even between the genders and race there is still progress to be made.

So this writer would be competing mostly with white men.

To look at what it would be like to be a white male reporter in the early 1900's, this writer put himself in the shoes of H.L. Mencken, a newspaper star during that period. Mencken wasn’t perfect, as he demonstrated with his ethical lapses such as when he got too involved in the Scopes trial while acting as if he could still be an objective reporter.

Mencken’s first reporting job was with the Baltimore Herald. "Though only eighteen he clearly had the potential to become one of the Herald's few good men, and his diligence was rewarded. After a month or so of unpaid labor, he was given an expense account and on July 2 he went to work as a staff reporter for the Herald at a salary of eight dollars a week, a dollar more than he was getting at Aug. Mencken & Bro," his father's business.

Eight dollars a week! Today many people make that much per hour. However, Mencken later got a promotion so we have to remember that he is getting paid more than the average reporter, many of whom he described as drunk and asleep much of the time.

"Early in 1900 another paper offered him a job and the Herald responded by giving him a raise, to ten dollars a week. Successive job offers kept his salary growing by increments - to eighteen dollars by the beginning of 1901."

Article Author: Scott Butki

Scott Butki was a newspaper reporter for more than 10 years before making a career change into education.

He is an in-house media critic, a recovering Tetris addict and a proud uncle.

Visit Scott Butki's author page — Scott Butki's Blog